Two Octets from North Portland

williams ave octet

firethorn bushes pruned to cylinders; orange
berries flash in dull November air—blue rack

for the weekly paper graffitied under
a stop sign’s blank side & one-way street arrow—

azalea blossoms in a front yard display
shocking pink at the wrong time—yellow birch leaf

clings to a sandwich board; red neon script in
the tattoo shop window crosses my likeness


◦    ◦    ◦


fremont st octet #4


plaster lions painted gold guarding brick steps;
at the corner unlit fairy lights on white

strings drape the fence; past the firethorn’s black spines
moss green ladder’s three rungs up to a tree fort’s

skewed boards in the unleafed cherry: its vista
of parked cars & green street signs; on inspection

dandelion clocks have expired on the lawns;
crimson-leaved grape vines clasp the chain link’s top rail



Jack Hayes
© 2016


 
11/21/16